ANTE User ManualPayroll Group
A Payroll Group is a reusable bundle of payroll rules. Instead of setting tax periods, government-contribution timing, attendance penalties, working-day assumptions, and overtime multipliers on each employee, you define them once on a Payroll Group and assign that group to employees. Payroll then computes each employee's pay using the rules from their group.
Every Payroll Group is tied to a cutoff (the pay-period schedule) and a salary computation method, and carries the full set of deduction, attendance, and overtime settings used when their payroll is processed.
Right-click a payroll group to edit it, delete it (with the matching permissions), open it in a new tab or copy its code.
Overview
Payroll Group lives under HR → Payroll Setup. The screen has four parts:
- A list of all payroll groups, with search and filters.
- An Add page for creating a new group.
- A Details page that shows a group's full configuration, read-only.
- An Edit page for changing an existing group.
Access is permission-gated. You need the Payroll Group configuration permission to open the screen at all; separate permissions control whether you can create, edit, or delete:
- View the list and details — Payroll Group access
- The Add Payroll Group button and Add page — Payroll Group create
- The Edit button and Edit page — Payroll Group update
- The Delete button — Payroll Group delete
If you lack a permission, the matching button simply does not appear.
Opening Payroll Group
- Open HR in the sidebar.
- Go to Payroll Setup.
- Click Payroll Group.
The page header reads Payroll Group. The Configuration section opens on Payroll Group by default.
The Payroll Group List
The list shows one row per payroll group with these columns:
- Payroll Code — the group's unique code
- Salary Computation — Monthly Rate, Daily Rate, or Fixed Rate
- Cutoff Code — the linked cutoff's code
- Cutoff Type — Weekly, Semi-Monthly, or Monthly
- Start Date / End Date — the cutoff period the group is in today (or, between periods, the next one to start)
- Processing Date — when that period's payroll is processed. A dash means the linked cutoff has no period generated yet (generate them under Cut-Off Management).
- Working Days/Week
- Late Grace (min)
You can:
- Search by Payroll Code.
- Filter by Salary Type and by Cutoff Type.
- Click a row to open that group's Details page.
- Click Add Payroll Group (top right) to create a new group.
If no groups match, the list shows No payroll groups found.
Creating a Payroll Group
- On the Payroll Group list, click Add Payroll Group.
- Fill in the form, which is split into the sections below. Fields marked with
*are required. - Click Create Payroll Group.
On success you return to the list and the new group appears. If the form is incomplete, a message prompts you to fill in the required fields.
The form loads its cutoff choices and default overtime multipliers when you open it; you may briefly see Loading form options.
Basic Information
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll Code | Yes | The group's identifying code. Cannot be blank. |
| Salary Computation | Yes | One of Monthly Rate, Daily Rate, Fixed Rate. Default: Monthly Rate. |
| Cutoff | Yes | The pay-period schedule this group follows. Searchable list of existing cutoffs. |
Deduction Periods
These control when each government deduction is taken within the cutoff. Each accepts: First Period, Last Period, Every Period, or Not Deducted (default: Every Period).
- Withholding Tax
- SSS
- PhilHealth
- Pag-IBIG
An employee with a fixed withholding tax setup on their record uses that setup's own period for Withholding Tax instead of this group's — a First Period or Last Period group only accepts a fixed setup of Every Period or its own single period; a mismatched setup is rejected when saved, or flagged for review if the group's period changes afterward.
Deduction Basis
These control what amount the contribution is computed against. Each accepts: Basic Salary (default), Basic Pay, Pro-rated Basic Pay, or Gross Pay.
- SSS Basis
- PhilHealth Basis
- Basic Salary — the employee's full monthly rate, whatever was actually worked in the cut-off.
- Basic Pay — the basic pay actually earned in the cut-off (after absences, lates and undertime), without overtime, premiums or allowances.
- Pro-rated Basic Pay — a monthly projection of this cut-off's basic pay: with a semi-monthly Every Period deduction the cut-off's basic pay is doubled to get a month, the bracket is looked up on it, and half is deducted in each half. Each half stands on its own, so an absence only lowers that half.
- Gross Pay — the cut-off's gross pay (premiums included), plus any allowance flagged to count toward the contribution.
With a First Period or Last Period deduction, Basic Pay and Gross Pay add the previous cut-off to the current one and deduct the whole bracket once. With Every Period on a semi-monthly group they settle the month: the first half projects the month (its pay doubled) and deducts half of that bracket; the last half uses the month's real pay (first half + last half), looks up the month's bracket and deducts the difference between it and what the first half already took (never below zero). The two halves add up to the month's bracket exactly once, so a high earner is not charged the SSS ceiling twice and a low earner is not charged the PhilHealth minimum twice. An employee hired mid-month has no first half, so the last half deducts on the pay earned so far.
Company-Paid Tax (Gross-Up)
For employees whose contract promises the take-home pay — for example expats. It works with every salary computation (Fixed, Monthly and Daily Rate): payroll first computes the pay for the cutoff as usual, then adds a Tax gross-up – pay (company-paid) line that covers the tax, so the employee is not charged for it. That line is taxable compensation too, so payroll recomputes until the take-home is exact. Loans, housing, meals and HMO are still deducted from the employee.
Pick an option in Who pays the tax and contributions. The note under the field explains the selected option and shows the take-home it gives for the same example (pay before tax ₱22,500, tax ₱850.58, SSS + PhilHealth + Pag-IBIG ₱1,412.50):
| Pay before tax (the take-home) | ₱31,104.50 | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax gross-up – pay (company-paid) | + | ₱1,812.62 |
| Gross pay | = | ₱32,917.12 |
| Withholding tax15% over ₱20,833 | − | ₱1,812.62 |
| Take-home | = | ₱31,104.50 |
| Pay before tax (the take-home) | ₱187,531.30 | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax gross-up – pay (company-paid)tax ₱56,858.69 + contributions ₱4,450.00 | + | ₱61,308.69 |
| Gross pay | = | ₱248,839.99 |
| SSS + PhilHealth + Pag-IBIG (employee share)₱1,750 + ₱2,500 + ₱200 | − | ₱4,450.00 |
| Withholding tax | − | ₱56,858.69 |
| Take-home | = | ₱187,531.30 |
On the payslip, the company-paid amount appears among the taxable allowances and the same amount goes back out as the tax and contributions — it passes through to BIR, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG. It is inside gross pay, so BIR 2316, the alphalist and the year-end tax true-up include it; extra tax found by the December true-up is also covered. With Daily or Monthly Rate the take-home still follows attendance: fewer days worked means a lower pay before tax, but no tax is charged to the employee on it. The 13th month pay is released separately and keeps its ₱90,000 tax-free limit; only a taxable excess is grossed up, through the year-end true-up.
One employee can be different from their group: on the employee's record, set Company-paid tax (gross-up) to another option, or back to Same as the payroll group.
Attendance Deductions
How lateness, undertime, and absence reduce pay.
- Late Deduction — Based on Salary (default), Not Deducted, or Custom.
- Undertime Deduction — same options as Late Deduction.
- Day pricing basis — how a scheduled working day is priced, for earning and for absences alike. Per day (default): every working day is worth one daily rate, whatever the length of the shift, and an absence costs one daily rate. Per scheduled hour: a working day is worth its shift's scheduled hours (break excluded), so a 10-hour day earns 1.25 daily rates and an absence on it costs 1.25 daily rates — a fully absent day nets to zero. Use it for a compressed work week paid by the hour. Daily and hourly rates, overtime, night differential, rest-day and holiday factors do not change; late and undertime are already priced by the hour. Rest days and extra days keep their worked-hours proration, and Fixed Rate groups ignore the setting. Changing the basis takes effect on open cutoffs the next time they are recomputed; posted cutoffs never change.
When Late Deduction or Undertime Deduction is set to Custom, two extra fields appear for that row:
| Field | Required (when Custom) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Late Amount / Undertime Amount | Yes | The custom amount to deduct. Must be greater than 0. |
| Time Basis | — | Per Minute (default) or Per Hour. |
Cash Portion of Net Pay
Some companies pay part of each employee's salary in cash and the rest to the bank account. Set the fixed cash part here.
| Net pay | 12,345.67 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cash portion | − | 1,000.00 |
| Credited to the bank account | = | 11,345.67 |
| Employee | Net pay | Cash | Bank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floor member | 12,345.67 | 1,000.00 | 11,345.67 |
| Contract says "all net pay to bank account" | 12,345.67 | — | 12,345.67 |
| On an active dispatch (for example a trainee) | 12,345.67 | — | 12,345.67 |
| Net pay below the cash amount | 800.00 | — | 800.00 |
| First period of a group paid on the second period | 12,345.67 | — | 12,345.67 |
You can also set the cash portion per employee, on the employee's contract (amount, period and "all net pay to bank account"). When a contract sets an amount it replaces the group's for that employee, from the contract's start date. See Cash portion on the contract. The Payroll Summary's Cash payout button prints the sheet of who is paid cash and in which bills.
Shifting Settings
Working-day assumptions and grace periods.
Working Days Per Week — choose from a preset list. Each preset shows the implied days-per-month:
Selection Days/Month Auto (Based on Working Days in a Year) computed automatically 1 Day 4.33 2 Days 8.67 3 Days 13 4 Days 17.33 5 Days (default) 21.67 6 Days 26 7 Days 30.33 Custom you enter your own values Choosing Custom reveals one required field. Ante prices a day of pay from days per month only, so there is no days-per-week box to fill:
Field Required (when Custom) Range Custom Days/Month Yes 0.1 – 31 Late Grace Time (min) — minutes of lateness ignored before a deduction applies (default 15).
Undertime Grace Time (min) — default 15.
Overtime Grace Time (min) — default 15.
Late Rounding Unit (min) and Undertime Rounding Unit (min) — after the grace time, late and undertime minutes are rounded to a multiple of this unit before they are priced. With unit 15 and Round up, 10 late minutes are priced as 15 (7:01–7:15 is priced as 15 minutes, 7:16–7:30 as 30 minutes). Order: raw minutes, then grace, then rounding. Leave 0 for no rounding (default). A manual Modify Time is never rounded; the day detail shows the raw and the priced minutes.
Rounding Direction — Round up (default), Round down or Round to nearest (exactly half rounds up).
Company Day Off Pay Rule — how a day declared a company day off (see Holidays) is paid: Pay actual time only (default; the unworked part of the day is deducted at the group's day pricing), Deduct the scheduled hours (the shift's hours at the hourly rate — 10 h Monday to Thursday, 8 h Friday — for monthly and semi-monthly pay) or Pay in full. An employee who worked is always paid actual time.
Work Day Overtime Rates / Rest Day Overtime Rates
Two grids of pay multipliers — one for work days, one for rest days. Each grid has a row per day type and a column per overtime situation. The form pre-fills these with the system default multipliers; adjust any cell as needed. Each multiplier must be a number from 0 to 10.
Rows (day types):
- Work Day grid: Ordinary Day, Regular Holiday, Special Holiday, Double Holiday
- Rest Day grid: Rest Day, Regular Holiday, Special Holiday, Double Holiday
Columns (overtime situation):
- No OT — no overtime
- With OT — with overtime
- Night Diff — with night differential
- Night Diff + OT — with both night differential and overtime
Each cell is a numeric multiplier and is always the total multiplier of the daily/hourly rate for that situation, never just the extra premium. For example, a worked Special Holiday on a work day defaults to 1.3 (130%): the 100% base plus a 30% premium.
The Double Holiday row is used on a day when two Regular holidays fall on the same date. It is pre-filled with the DOLE rates: on a work day 300% when worked, 390% with overtime, 330% with night differential and 429% with both; on a rest day 390%, 507%, 429% and 557.7%. When a Regular and a Special holiday share a date, the Regular Holiday row is used, on rest days as well as work days.
Early (Pre-Shift) Overtime
Guidance for hours filed before the shift start. This setting only changes what the overtime form tells the employee (and so the approver); it never changes what is credited. Time punched before a fixed shift start always shows in the computed (C) overtime column, and an approved overtime filing before the shift start is credited like any overtime: up to the time the punches show.
Early overtime follows the same approval path and the same premium and night-differential treatment as any other overtime. An individual employee can override the group choice on the employee's edit form (Early overtime guidance: use the payroll group setting, whole units, or not normally overtime) — see Employee Records.
Overtime Rounding
Some clients grant overtime in fixed units and only after a short gap past the end of the shift. These settings make the credited overtime of a day match that policy. They apply to the overtime after the shift end, to rest-day and holiday overtime and to the after-midnight part of a night shift. Early (pre-shift) overtime keeps its own unit above.
Order for each day: punched overtime, minus the start gap, then the overtime grace time, then rounding. All the overtime of the day is rounded as one total, including the part after midnight. The night-differential split and the pay rates then use the rounded overtime. The approved overtime filing is never rounded; an Overtime filing is paid at the lower of the approved overtime and the punches, compared after rounding. A manual Modify Time is never rounded. The day detail shows the punched and the credited minutes.
Worked example: shift ends 17:45, unit 30 min, round down, start gap 30 min
| Punched out | Past the shift end | After the gap | Credited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18:20 | 35 min | 5 min | 0 h |
| 18:45 | 60 min | 30 min | 30 min |
| 19:20 | 95 min | 65 min | 1 h (60 min) |
| Rest day 07:00 to 16:20, 1 h break | 20 min overtime | 20 min | 0 h overtime, 8 h worked |
Leave Filing
Whether leave is filed in days or in hours is no longer set per payroll group. It is one company-wide setting, Leave basis, on HR Settings → Leave. The former Allow hourly leave field has been removed from this page.
Payroll Group Details
Clicking a row on the list opens the read-only Details page. The header shows the Payroll Code as the title and the Salary Computation as the subtitle, with Edit and Delete actions (subject to your permissions).
The page lays the configuration out in sections:
- Basic Information — Payroll Code, Salary Computation, Cutoff Code, Cutoff Type.
- Shifting Settings — Working Days (with the days-per-month derived from the selection, or the custom values), Late Grace Time, Undertime Grace Time, Overtime Grace Time (each shown in minutes).
- Deduction Periods — Withholding Tax, SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG. An employee with a fixed withholding tax setup follows that setup's own period instead, for Withholding Tax only.
- Deduction Basis — SSS Basis, PhilHealth Basis.
- Attendance Deductions — Late Deduction, Undertime Deduction, and the Day pricing basis. When a deduction is Custom, its custom amount and time basis are shown.
- Work Day Overtime Rates and Rest Day Overtime Rates — each as a table with the day-type rows and the No OT / With OT / Night Diff / Night Diff + OT columns, values shown to two decimals.
Editing a Payroll Group
- Open the group's Details page (click its row in the list).
- Click Edit.
- Change any fields — the Edit form mirrors the Add form's sections and rules.
- Save your changes.
The Payroll Code can be renamed here. It must stay unique among the company's payroll groups; a code another group already uses is rejected. Employees stay assigned to the group through a rename.
Deleting a Payroll Group
- Open the group's Details page.
- Click Delete.
- A confirmation dialog appears asking Are you sure you want to delete <Payroll Code>? and warning that the action cannot be undone.
- Click Delete to confirm, or Cancel to keep the group.
Deleting a payroll group cannot be undone. Employees who use the deleted group will need to be reassigned to another payroll group.
Common Tasks
| I want to… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Find a group by its code | Use the Search box (searches Payroll Code) on the list. |
| See only daily-rate groups | Use the Salary Type filter. |
| See only monthly-cutoff groups | Use the Cutoff Type filter. |
| Set a flat peso penalty per late minute | In Attendance Deductions, set Late Deduction to Custom, enter the Late Amount, and pick Per Minute as the Time Basis. |
| Use a non-standard work week | Set Working Days Per Week to Custom, then fill Custom Days/Month. |
| Pay a compressed work week by the hour | In Attendance Deductions, set Day pricing basis to Per scheduled hour, so a longer scheduled day (and an absence on it) is worth proportionally more than one daily rate. |
| Stop taking a contribution mid-cutoff | Set that contribution's Deduction Period (e.g. SSS) to Not Deducted. |
| Adjust holiday overtime pay | Edit the multipliers in the Work Day / Rest Day Overtime Rates grids. |
Overtime filing rule
There is no Overtime filing setting on a payroll group any more: every group follows the same rule. Overtime can always be filed, including in advance for a day that has not happened yet. An Overtime filing is credited only for the time the employee's time logs back, once the day is over: the lower of the approved overtime and the punched overtime, compared separately for regular and night-differential hours. Before the day is over it shows as filed. The difference is recorded on the filing with the filed, punched and paid hours, and the employee and approver are always notified when the paid hours fall below the filing.
Employees with no time logs for overtime work, such as off-site work or a client visit, file a Certificate of Attendance or Official Business form instead: its time beyond the shift is credited as overtime. Overtime filings made before this change, whether already approved or still pending, keep being credited as filed. A team leader can file for a team member. See Overtime Filing.
How It Connects
Set up first
- Cut-Off Management — every payroll group is tied to one cutoff, which sets how often it pays and when pay day falls.
Feeds into
- Employee Records — each employee is assigned one payroll group, which decides the rules their pay is computed under.
- Payroll Time Keeping — uses the group's late, undertime and overtime grace minutes when it builds each timesheet.
- Payroll Center — computes pay with the group's rate type, overtime multipliers and the timing of tax, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG deductions.
- Dispatch Treatment — a treatment can apply company-wide or to one payroll group, and the group's own setting wins.
- Approval Configuration — filing rules can limit who may file a request type to chosen payroll groups.
- Payroll Journal — posts a cutoff's payroll to the ledger, and can do so one payroll group at a time.